Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda – 1st March 2009
What a privilege to see, up close and personal, such a majestic animal as the Mountain Gorilla, can, in hindsight, also produce feelings of doubt and concern by the effect of my presence.
The Mountain Gorilla is listed as critically endangered by the World Wildlife Fund. That is one step away from extinction in the wild. There are around 800 left of them in the wild, anywhere on the planet. That is why I was there, it was also why I had paid $500 for the privilege, therein lies the thinly veiled check for my conscience.
I was there because I hoped I would derive pleasure from the experience. The notion of my presence having an adverse impact on the animals was countered by the thought that my money was going toward the protection and continued existence of the animal.
This area of Africa has seen far more of the world’s bloodshed than the western world ever seems comfortable to acknowledge, let alone intervene as we
seem overly keen on elsewhere. Along with farming, charcoal production and now it seems oil is why there is an on going threat to the Mountain Gorilla.
It is simple to see why they are protected when foreign tourists will pay many hundreds of dollars for the opportunity of seeing them. How much of those dollars goes to protecting them and how much goes elsewhere is anyone’s guess but TIA (This Is Africa…) so I don’t have any illusions about it.
I guess it is not surprising that an animal that supposedly shares around 98% of their DNA with humans expressed emotion that was instantly recognisable to me. Most animals angry or threatening postures and expressions are easily identifiable, they bare their teeth. You don’t recognise other emotions so easily, but I did this day.